


Project Hydra

by ByelerBylers



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Eventual Steve Rogers/Tony Stark - Freeform, Family Dynamics, Fluff and Angst, Inspired by Maximum Ride, M/M, Violence, the dont have wings just their original powers, they all live together in a cabin house
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:34:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21733828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ByelerBylers/pseuds/ByelerBylers
Summary: Six teenagers with unique abilities were experimented on by Hydra. From the moment they were born, their identities and hopes of living a normal life were taken away from them. With the help of Phil Coulson, they were able to escape the facility they were kept in and live a relatively peaceful life in hiding in the outskirts of Arizona.But with the lives they lead, peace isn’t always the end all. One of them is forcefully kidnapped by Hydra and the other five set themselves on a journey to rescue their friend. From there, they begin to learn about their past as things start to unravel.
Relationships: Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark & Natasha Romanov & Clint Barton & Bruce Banner & Wanda Maximoff, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello. This is my second fanfic based off of the Maximum Ride novels (the first using stranger things but I gave up on that) with the kids who have wings and all sorts of powers and all-
> 
> I wanted to do a maximum ride based fic but with some of the avengers instead because I love both the MCU and Maximum Ride, and I’ve never seen anyone else do a fic like this based off of my days of desperately searching for one. 
> 
> Just to say this again, they don’t have wings, but their original superpowers, some of them with superpowers based on their abilities (if they weren’t superpowered in canon). The six main characters who are taken from that facility and live together are Steve, Tony, Natasha, Clint, Bruce, and Wanda. 
> 
> Anyways, I hope y’all enjoy this first chapter! I’d like to hear your thoughts on this story~

The shrill noise of the doorbell caused Steve to jolt upwards from his nap. He rubbed his eyes, clearing the blurry sight he accumulated while sleeping headfirst on his arms on the kitchen table. He frowned, just now realizing how strange this was. He never took naps during the day; he didn’t need to. It was two hours into the afternoon, the sun blaring into the cramped space of the kitchen through the windows. He could see a thick sheen of dust made visible by the sunlight.

The doorbell rang again.

Before Steve could get up, he froze.

No one ever rang the doorbell.

Not the six people who were only allowed in the house.

The blonde frowned, his innate suspicion flaring up. He took slow steps, his quiet footsteps managing to make the old flooring of the house creak. He headed towards the living room space, doing a quick glance over. All he saw were the old furnishings, couches with spots of cotton sticking out and a table with uneven legs, the objects not tampered with. But the burning question–

_Where was everyone?_

Before the doorbell could ring once more, he cautiously opened the door, his defenses up. Two sophisticated men, who wore black suits stood ahead of him, their unidentifiable selves looking back at him with dark, concealing sunglasses.

“Who are you–”

“We’ll have to put aside the introductions for now, Steve,” One of the men interrupted, “You need to come with us.”

Steve raised his eyebrows. They knew his name…which only meant–

“We really don’t want to fight you,” The other said. Steve’s eyes trailed down to the breast pocket of his suit, a silver nametag pinned onto it…only, there was no name. A faded, circular black tattoo on his neck was partially hidden behind his suit collar. The tattoo had a simple but elaborate drawing of an octopus, six tentacles springing out of it.

“Your friends tried to, so we had to stop them.”

At that last sentence, Steve’s eyes flicked upwards, looking ahead of the men.

His pulse raced when he saw five other kids around his age, knocked out cold on the front lawn. They lay next to each other, their bodies bruised and bloodied. None of them were able to move, all of them looking like they were beat up within an inch of their life. They almost looked…lifeless.

Steve never thought this day would come.

…the day Hydra would find out about their whereabouts.

Hydra, a secretive terrorist organization, was responsible for Steve’s current predicament. Their main facility, stationed in Siberia, was among the many facilities peppered throughout the world that stemmed from four different sectors: government assets, global criminal groups, intelligence gathering,...and international corporations hid behind what looked like a legitimate business to conduct illicit activities. These illicit activities included experimentation on living people. Steve, along with the five other kids mentioned, were a victim of this. The facility wanted them back because they possessed something special, something that was of prodigious value to Hydra.

He didn’t want to go back to that goddamned facility. He didn’t want any of his friends to go back, to have those sickening experiments done on them. He didn’t want to experience the ramifications of the abuse they endured. The thought of all that happening again made his blood boil.

“…Steve?” He could hear one of his friends say, their voice shaky and panicked.

“Tony!” He shouted, pushing through the men.

He ran at a breakneck pace, his eyes stinging and his sight blurred. He had to get to them, he couldn’t lose them, not ever. His lungs were burning, the adrenaline leeching into his blood. It felt like the longer he ran, the further his friends were moving away from him.

He winced when he felt something sharp hit the side of his neck.

Within seconds, his sight was getting blurrier. He touched the side of his neck, feeling a tranquilizer of some sorts embedded in it.

“Fuck…” His voice was strained as he watched his surroundings turn dark, the spotlight of his friends within the darkness becoming smaller and smaller. Everything felt like slow motion, his running feeling slower by the second. It felt like he was running in something viscous.

Tears sprung out from his eyes.

They were all going back to Siberia and there was nothing Steve could do.

He fell.

_Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!_

“Rise and shine! Wake the fuck up!”

\------

Steve’s eyes snapped open, his heartrate soaring from the loud voice. His anger quickly subsided, it being replaced with an almost fond exasperation once he saw a blonde-haired male peering at him from above. His arm was circled around a cooking pot while the other held onto a large wooden spoon.

So, it was just a dream.

“I hate when you do that, Clint,” Steve said, attempting to flip aside his bedsheet. He frowned when it wouldn’t budge, just now noticing Clint’s knee was digging into the side of the bed.

“You wouldn’t wake up,” He shrugged, removing his knee, “Nat wanted me to pour a bucket of ice water on you, but I suggested against that cause I’m not an asshole.”

The other only exhaled through his nose, rubbing his temples. _What time was it?_

“You’re normally a light sleeper; did you have another one of those dreams?” Clint asked, familiar with Steve’s mannerisms.

“Yeah,” Steve simply replied, recounting all of it in his head.

The dreams were all the same, only with slight variations, every time he had them. Hydra agents would find out about their top secret living area: break into it, knock on the door, ring the doorbell – whatever they could do to enter their home. Steve would try to run, defend himself, fight them, anything to protect himself and his five other friends…but he always lost. Regardless of what decision he tried to make in those lucid dreams, _they_ always lost. They were always bound to be taken back to Hydra’s main facility, to be poked at and prodded on as experimental subjects. Hydra _always_ had the upper hand.

What scared Steve the most were the frequency of these dreams. They became more frequent, especially in the past month. He would have them almost two times a week. _Was this a sign?_

“They’re not gonna find us, you know that?” Clint brought him out of his reverie. He must have noticed Steve’s downcast expression, “It’s been what – eight years since we’ve escaped. No one, not even Coulson, has suspected anything. They must have given up on us and moved onto different things.”

“Coulson disappeared four years ago, Clint.”

“I– yeah, but we don’t know what happened to him,” He stumbled on his words. He kept his stare on Steve, who was now sitting on the edge of his bed. The older of the two kept his stare glued onto the floor, his hands beside his lap clutching onto the mattress. He hoped he wouldn’t leave an imprint on the bedding.

“You don’t think Hydra actually killed him for taking us out of _there_ , do you?”

_There._

The word Clint used whenever he referred to Hydra’s main facility in Siberia. The disgust and anger he expressed when emphasizing that one word easily clued Steve and the others into what he meant whenever he used that tonality. It was the place where they were abused at the hands of cold and callous lab workers, for a majority of their childhoods. From what they knew, they were kept there since they were just babies.

Why Hydra had these experiments done on them – that would be a different story to be told later.

Steve paused. As blunt as Clint was sometimes, he was surprised he would be so upfront about such a serious topic. Steve might have walked right into that; he wasn’t exactly Mr. Optimism with this entire situation.

“I don’t know,” Steve finally said, “I do believe he’s…not alive anymore. Most of us do. He put his life in danger and ruined any prospect of a career to rescue us. There’s no reason why he’d leave us and not come back.”

Unfortunately for Clint, Steve was right. After “kidnapping” six kids from a guarded, almost top-secret Hydra-owned facility, Phil Coulson had a permanent target on his back. The most-likely diseased caretaker made a point of telling them this, that he could never live a regular life in the public eye again. None of them could.

Because of this, Coulson gave them permanent sanctuary in his deceased grandmother’s two-story cabin that previously sat uninhabited in the rural outskirts of Cochise County, Arizona. No one could easily find their home, it being situated within the high elevation of the Chiricahua Mountains, trees mostly surrounding it.

“Whatever,” Clint quickly said, wanting to change the subject, “Do you want eggs? Sausage? Or both?”

“Eggs are fine,” Steve said, giving Clint a concerned glance.

“Is sleeping beauty awake yet?” He could hear a voice shout from downstairs. Steve almost rolled his eyes at the nickname.

“Yeah, Nat, he’s with us!” Clint shouted back, adjusting his hearing aid before leaving Steve’s room. His need for cochlear implants was a result of the experiments done on him, Hydra’s carelessness causing him to permanently lose his hearing in both ears.

Steve looked beside him, the glaring numbers of his desk clock reading 11:06 A.M. Much to his chagrin, everyone else was probably awake by now. By everyone else, he meant the five others – including Clint and Nat – that Coulson also rescued, the ones that he had lived with in this cabin house for eight years and counting. To him, they were friends, family, people who he vowed to protect at all costs and lay his life on the line for if the time came for it.

The bickering voices of Clint and Natasha became louder as he left his room and went down the steps. He didn’t bother to change out of his sleepwear, opting to do that after eating a late breakfast and apologizing for keeping everyone else waiting. Steve was naturally good-natured like that, some of the others often rolled his eyes at his do-gooder persona, but he never quashed it. Old habits die hard.

He felt the thick, greasy scent of overly-processed sausage patties and buttery eggs enter his sinuses the moment he reached the first floor. Once he entered the kitchen, the first thing he noticed was Natasha smacking Clint’s hand away from the skillet. The blonde yelped, dropping a sausage patty back into the pan.

“Hey! He’s down now, so I’m eating,” A very hungry Clint said, seeing Steve enter the kitchen from the corner of his sight. He attempted to grab the patty again.

“Wash your hands at least,” Natasha rolled her eyes. She had short, wavy red-hair that was tied back into a side French braid. Clint almost backed away from her piercing stare, instead he retracted his hand from the pan.

“I did.”

“Not after you used the bathroom,” She retorted.

“How the hell would you know that? I don’t think you were in there with me,” Clint paused, and then gasped, “…That is, unless you were peeping on m–”

“You are _not_ going to finish that sentence,” Natasha said, her voice threatening.

“You do realize you can hear the bathroom’s faucet from all the way here.”

The two spun back, seeing a male with brown wavy hair enter. He sported square framed glasses with a brown sweatshirt baggy washed out jeans.

“Glad you could join us Bruce,” Clint said, heading to the kitchen sink.

Bruce ignored Clint’s sarcastic tone and took a seat across from Steve, who was now seated at the table. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here.

“Another dream?” Bruce said to Steve. He quickly glanced at Natasha, the red-head in the process of removing the sausage patties from the skillet onto a plate.

“Twice this week now,” Steve said, sinking down in his seat, “At this rate, I’ll be having them every day by next month.”

“Okay, on a scale of one to ten, how stressed have you been lately?”

Steve frowned, a little taken aback by Bruce’s sudden deviation onto such a question. He knew what the other was trying to do, but he quickly assumed that it wouldn’t be much of any help as much as it helped Bruce deal with his own afflictions.

“Like an 11,” Natasha answered for him; she looked at Steve, “You’re always on edge these days.”

“Yeah, because of the nightmares,” Steve replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“–That initially result from PTSD we all experienced. And the stress from those vivid dreams cause you to have more of these vivid dreams. It’s like a domino effect of some sorts,” Bruce interjected.

“You spend way too much time on the internet, dude,” Clint said, “Is what you’re describing even a thing?”

“I’m just hypothesizing. What I’m saying seems plausible enough. Besides, it’s not like we can see a doctor about this…that’s not going to end well, for obvious reasons.”

“I know that, genius–”

Steve drowned out their voices. He really appreciated the sentiment behind Bruce’s attempt at helping, but it felt like making those dreams go away permanently was an impossible feat. Bruce was good at keeping his stress levels low. Steve, on the other hand, always had something to worry about even if he was good at hiding it. And Bruce’s strength was geared towards the hard sciences, not the psychology of dreaming.

“Good morning, Steve.”

“’Morning, Wanda,” He greeted.

The others quickly noticed Wanda’s presence. Her long, billowy nightgown trailed behind her as she opened the fridge. She frowned, looking ahead at the near empty compartments. A near empty fridge meant that at least two of them, usually Steve and Nat, would take a long walk to the local grocer and use the stash of money that Coulson left them to stock up on essentials. It was a stressful ordeal for them because they would conjure up worst case scenarios that could happen if anything went wrong during one of their very rare ventures to the public. Not to mention, there would be a day where they’d run out of money. Having to resort to stealing would pile onto that whole nerve-wracking ordeal.

Steve watched Clint pull up a chair for Wanda before taking his own seat in the table. Beside them, Natasha and Bruce were in their own little conversation, the latter helping the former gather up the clutter that amassed on the countertop and stove.

That was five out of the six that resided in this humble abode.

There was Steve, the eldest of them all at eighteen. He was the undesignated leader of the group. Though, it was natural of him to take on that role, due to his age and especially after Coulson had left all those years ago. His no-nonsense, cautious demeanor and acquisition to lead brought this on. Next came Natasha, who trailed a few months behind Steve in age. Her cunning and savvy personality made her the most adaptable to the world outside of them, at least compared to the others. It was why going out for a trip to the faraway grocery store didn’t faze her too much. If they ever found themselves in a sticky situation, they were confident she’d be able to get them out of it.

Clint came forth, his seventeen years almost a full year behind Natasha. He was rough all around with a mischievous lilt to him. He did have a sensitive side to him, although he seldom showed or admitted to having. It exacerbated whenever Coulson’s name popped into the conversation, as his disappearance hit him the hardest out of the six. He and Natasha knew each other the longest as they were often stationed close to each other during their time at the facility. Bruce was the second youngest, just a couple of months behind Clint. He was introverted, at least compared to the more high strung personalities of the others. His prowess towards psychics and other hard sciences and his tenacity to hit the books along with him being a fast-learner made him a bastion of knowledge.

Finally, Wanda was the youngest at sixteen. She had a quiet but strong personality. She often left the more pointless squabbles to her older friends. Although they’ve all known each other for a better part of eight years, she was naturally secretive and very hesitant to trusting those around her. It was a part of her nature that would never go away. Her getting the harshest treatment out of the six at the facility permanently traumatized her and steered her away from people. Steve was naturally protective of her for this reason alone. She was like a little sister to him.

“Is Tony ever going to come out of his cave?” Clint’s voice broke Steve out of his reverie.

_Oh, right. Tony._

He came third, after Natasha, just turning eighteen a few weeks ago. He and Clint, without the knowledge of the others, decided to sneak out early in the morning on the formers birthday. The escapade of theirs ended up with them stealing four bottles of booze from the store they would go to, to stock up on supplies. The two came home to a very worried, but livid Steve. The amount of risk and possible danger involved enraged Steve. Luckily he was able to keep his anger under wraps because it was Tony’s birthday after all. He didn’t shy away from expressing his disappointment the next day, though.

Out of the six, he was the one Steve clashed with the most. Steve’s cautious yet stern take on matters was a far cry from Tony’s reckless and jovial one. He didn’t hate Tony, or dislike even. Tony just got under his skin too often.

“I tried. ‘Just five minutes’, he said. It’s been a better part of an hour,” Bruce replied, “He was actually supposed to cook today…hell, I don’t even think he slept at all last night. I wouldn’t trust him with the stove.”

Steve gritted his teeth, his jaw twitching.

“I’ll get him,” He finally said, scooting his chair back before standing up.

“Please tell him to ingest something that isn’t coffee grounds,” Natasha called out as she watched him leave.

**\------**

The basement.

That was where Tony would often recluse himself from the others to work on his contraptions or “inventions” as he liked to call them, when he wasn’t yapping away and being his normally eccentric, loud self. He could hear the booming noise of some sort of genre of rock music, probably classic rock, coming from the entrance of the room.

It was probably a hopeless feat, but Steve knocked, rather loudly.

“Tony!” He shouted, his impatience forthcoming.

His hand gravitated towards the doorknob, his frown deepening when he didn’t hear a single reply after several seconds had passed. Tony probably couldn’t hear him in the first place, the loudspeakers of the radio he used would easily drown out his voice.

Steve twisted the doorknob, cursing when it wouldn’t budge.

_Of course he fucking locked it._

Steve knocked again, making sure not to knock too harshly. He didn’t want to break the door, as much as he was tempted to.

“Tony open the door–”

Steve’s voice came to an abrupt halt when he saw Tony swing it open from the other side. Tony’s usually immaculate pitch black hair was disheveled, his safety goggles barely obscuring that. His prominent brown eyes had giant dark circles below them while his t-shirt was wrinkled and his jeans hung loose on his body, his belt barely holding them up. He looked worse for wear; a single night of sleep was obviously evaded by him.

“Couldn’t hear you over the music,” He said, stretching his arms to the side, “What’s up, Steve?”

“Breakfast,” The other, as-a-matter-of-factly, said. Tony almost snorted at the pun Steve made, but refrained from doing so.

“I’m gonna have to pass on that today,” He said instead, “You know that abandoned Mazda I told you about…the one that Bruce and I found together at the field like a few weeks ago - flat tires, busted ignition switch, cracked gas tank and windshield, and anything else wrong with a car you can think of? I’ve been visiting that area, every other day since then, and guess what? The car was still there.”

Steve knew where this was headed.

“Tony–”

“Let me finish; I haven’t gotten to the good part,” He easily interrupted Steve, earning a cross of the arms from the other, “I’ve been designing schematics for the types of repairs I’ll be making on that car.”

“What are you going to use to get it working again?” Steve feigned interest in Tony’s latest project. This seemed a little too out of bounds, even for someone like him.

“I’ll make do with what we have. There’s a lot of useful junk in and outside of this house,” Tony replied, noticing the other’s disbelief. He tapped at his head with his finger, “Do you forget what I have up here?”

“No, it’s just– never mind,” Steve stammered, “Just come up and eat something.”

“Coffee sounds great.”

“Actual food.”

Tony rolled his eyes and pursed his lips.

“Yeah, yeah, fine. If that keeps you from looking at me like I’m going to pass out any minute.”

“You look like you are, caffeine jitters and all.”

“Look at you, Steve. I manage to annoy the hell out of you, yet you still care about me,” Tony grinned.

Steve sighed, turning around and heading back up the stairs. He was expecting Tony to follow behind him and not run off in the other direction to lock himself up in the basement again.

\------

The six– or five of them rather, were finally situated around the kitchen table, the smallness of it causing them to crowd the area with their close proximities. Tony opted to sit on the counter, pushing himself on top of it, a sausage patty hanging out of his mouth. It was tradition, for them to eat all of their meals together, as a family.

“You actually want to visit the monument?” Wanda gave Clint a disbelieving stare. The monument, Chiricachua monument, was obviously deemed a “public” place, which meant people, regular people would be there. Being around, let alone possibly having to mingle with regulars would spell nothing but possible trouble for them. They only designated this for emergencies, such as when they were running low on supplies.

“Yeah, it’s time the six of us do something together, family bonding and all,” He replied, “…and before one of you tells me it’s too dangerous, I’ve done my research on the internet. You don’t see packs of people there, unlike the store.”

Even if the six were relatively sheltered and closed off to the rest of the world, they owned a computer that was previously left to gather dust in the basement. Coulson had worked on the bulky desktop computer, bringing it back to life and eventually setting up a slow but working internet connection. Apart from the library of books in the living room, it was the only viable outside connection they had to the rest of the world.

“It’s still dangerous,” Bruce retorted, “We’ve never been that far outside the house. What if we get lost?”

“We have a map,” Clint shrugged.

“Okay, but then what if some crazed person decides to kidnap one of us? We’re six teenagers for crying out loud–”

“Use your powers on them, Bruciebear.”

“You’re not serious are you, Tony?” Bruce said, looking like he wanted to faceplant himself on the table.

He wasn’t being serious.

But he had powers. All six of them did.

That was why they were valuable assets to Hydra. Hydra’s facility in Siberia experimented on humans, gifting yet cursing them with special powers. How they were acquired by the facility was a mystery to them, but the six knew they’ve resided there since they were babies. Their first memories involved the invasive experimentation by men and women in lab coats who only saw them as their valuable possessions, weapons. Then Coulson, a former S.H.I.E.L.D agent, had broken all protocol on his undercover assignment to Hydra’s Siberian facility and rescued them. He had taken care of the six – he educated them, taught them useful life skills, and loved them as if they were his own children. Losing him was easily the most difficult predicament they’ve faced since leaving the facility.

They gained a natural cautiousness, heightened by Coulson’s teachings to them. He always stressed to them the dangers of the outside world. Anything careless they did could be a direct affront to their way of living. If Hydra suspected anything, and they had the resources to, the facility could look for them again.

Because of this, school was out of the question, doctors were out of the question, living quarters within close proximity of other humans was out of the question, _any_ prolonged contact with other humans was out of the question. It was the only guaranteed way they could stay safe.

So far, it’s worked well for them.

“So what do you guys wanna do? …Since the monument is out of the question,” Clint said, obviously not looking too happy. He was itching to explore beyond the areas they were only allowed to step in.

“We can still go out for a normal walk,” Steve spoke up, “We could all use the fresh air.”

“I don’t know,” Natasha replied, absently dragging her fork against her plate while her other hand cupped her chin.

It was silent for a few moments, Natasha’s dragging of the fork being the only noise in the small kitchen area.

“What about Tony’s car?” Wanda broke the silence, causing Tony’s eyes to drift towards her, “You wouldn’t shut up about it.”

“Glad I wasn’t the only one on the receiving end of that,” Steve said, causing Bruce to snort.

“Hey, you know what? I was thinking we could transport it back here,” Tony replied, pushing himself off the counter, “I can get a head start on the repairs and finish them in no time.”

“That’s not a bad idea. None of us have to worry about you being too far from the house.”

“Aww, Steve,” Tony curled his hands to the side of his face and batted his eyelashes.

“I can get on board with that. I mean, if you actually got it working and then one of us learns how to drive…” Natasha said, “Imagine how much easier things would be for us. We don’t have to take hours to walk to the store.”

“I guess that settles it then,” Clint said, “Normal walk it is.”


	2. Chapter 2

The trees barely covered the glaring afternoon sun, the warmth directly hitting the six. That was pretty commonplace for a November in southeast Arizona, but it was a stark contrast from the chilly interior of the giant lab they were kept in at the Hydra facility. It took time for them to acclimate to the sharp change in “climate”. Coulson often told them they didn’t need to wear so much layers, as much as they insisted.

“You all ever think about it snowing here? Like, one day the temperature decides to go way below freezing, because why the hell not …It starts snowing like nobody’s business and there’s at least a foot of snow on the ground. Imagine having to walk through that,” Tony rambled. Ever since they had all changed into regular clothes and left the house, he was in high spirits, going on a long diatribe on the ‘Abandoned Mazda’ project before abruptly changing the subject to the weather. It was typical of Tony, but the others didn’t have the heart to shut him up; they’d feel bad for possibly quashing the excitement he had, “We could have a giant snow fight or something, last person to stay up wins.”

“Would our house even withstand that?”

“Nat, why must you be so negative all the time?” Tony said, picking his pace up and walking ahead of the other five. He made sure to take careful steps, otherwise he would trip over the natural incline of the mountainside.

Ahead of them were the endless, distinct rock formations that decorated the vast area, the trees barely able to envelop them. The hoodoos, rock spires, and balanced rocks were some of the many different variations. Steve often brought his sketchbook to sketch these different formations. He had a plethora of sketchbooks, most of them already completely filled with his artwork. The drawings would range from the vast landscape of the Chiricahua’s and other notable landmarks he saw through the internet and TV to portraits of different people. And since Coulson was really particular and thoughtful about each of their interests, he made sure to gift him a new, blank sketchbook each time he filled one.

“Besides, snow won’t cause any damage to the structure of the house itself, not our house at least, with the way it’s built – roofing and all. It’s the plumbing and sewage we have to worry about, if they aren’t properly insulated,” Tony continued.

“Are they?” Wanda said, a twinge of worry in her voice.

“Yup, covered in fiberglass and polyethylene noodles.”

“What would we do without our little genius?” Clint teased, causing the other to scoff at the tongue-in-cheek.

“You know, you guys would have a _really_ hard time without me,” Tony turned around to face the others, now walking backwards, “Hey-!”

Clint had caught up to him, playfully wrapping his arm around the shorter boy’s neck. The two wrestled each other, Tony trying to remove the blonde’s arm while the other kept him in a firm headlock. Steve pursed his lips to the side, watching the two boys get lost in their childish horseplay. Clint’s “take it back”’s contrasted with Tony’s “After you get off of me, Legolas!” as they continued to grapple with each other.

“I’m still unconvinced they’re older than me.”

Steve looked to his side, noticing the youngest had stopped beside him.

Wanda was an enigma. They had known each other for more than ten years and lived with each other outside of the facility for eight years, but Wanda often kept a thin safeguard between herself and the others. She would only ever confide in Steve and occasionally Clint about how she was truly feeling when the time came to it. She loved her friends, _her family_ , but all of those years at the facility hit her the hardest. She earned the brunt of the abuse they faced due to her specific types of abilities – she was bound to stay closed off to other people by habit.

They watched Tony and Clint cease their fighting after Clint nearly tripped over some nearby rocks, the latter getting berated by Natasha for being so careless.

“After we move Tony’s car back to the house, you want to brush up on some throwing techniques?”

“I thought we haven’t gotten to that yet,” Wanda said, facing Steve, “We did foot and hand techniques and a little bit of the standing ones. I want us to practice those.”

Seldom using her actual powers, Wanda opted to train in close combat. Coulson understood this due to her unpredictability of them and the trauma she faced from being forced to strain herself to the highest degree by the facility. Wanda had never unlocked the full capacity of her powers as much as Hydra wanted her to, regardless of how young she was at the time. After they escaped, she was taught to suppress them because Coulson knew the extent of what could possibly happen if they were left unchecked.

“Those were really easy, though. I don’t remember you messing up at all on them. I mean, you’re a pretty fast learner–” Steve stopped, just now noticing her changed expression. Her lids were downturned with her lips pressed together.

“You won’t hurt me.”

Wanda kept quiet for a moment, cautiously wrapping her arms around her waist. The bickering voices of the others could be heard in the background, them mostly coming from Clint and Bruce who were in the middle of a riveting argument. Said argument consisted of whether Chef Boyardee’s or Campbell’s varieties of canned ravioli had the superior taste.

“You don’t know that.”

“So far you haven’t. You’re good at keeping your powers under control,” Steve said, trying his hardest to keep a nonchalant air about this. He pointed to himself, a small smile forming on his face, “Super strength; remember?”

Wanda returned the smile, the expression reaching her eyes.

“I’m still stronger than you.”

Steve was unable to argue with that, “Okay, how about you practice on one of Clint’s dummies, see if you’re able to keep your powers at bay before we actually train together.”

“Sounds good–”

“Guys, let’s gooo!”

Tony’s jolly voice broke through their conversation. Steve and Wanda whipped their heads back and saw that the other four had a head start, their steps crunching through the small rocks and gravel.

\------

“Not gonna lie, this looks like a neat ride,” Clint said, circling the vehicle that the six had surrounded, “It’s vintage; I like vintage.”

It took a full hour for them to reach the enclosed field where the abandoned vehicle lay. The grey 1983 Mazda RX-7 had accumulated dirt and dust as it was left alone for several weeks. The tires of the car were flattened, the rubber beginning to pool on the ground, while the windshield had a crack strewn across it.

“Yeah? She’s going to look beautiful once I’m done with everything,” Tony said, a gleam of pride in his eyes, “First, I need to worry about making a key blank, since the previous owners weren’t nice enough to leave one here. You’ll help me with that, right Bruce?”

He gave Tony an attentive nod, before another issue came up, “How exactly are we going to remove the key lock though?”

“That, you don’t need to worry about. I can do that easy.”

Natasha opened the already unlocked front door of the Mazda, closely examining the contents of the vehicle. The dark red leather interior was cramped, giving little space for the back passenger seats. The fabric of the seats were slightly torn at the edges which also indicated the extent of the wear and tear. The inside hadn’t been completely cleared yet, Tony opting to leave all of the junk the previous owners had trashed the car with. He could easily sift through those once they brought the car back home.

Fixing an old, decrepit car, restoring a blown fuse, fixing a broken dryer and fridge, improving the household computer’s capabilities, creating safe but advanced weapons with the limited tools that they had, and designing all sorts of gadgets that made domesticity easier for the six – Tony was able to do all of these remarkable things at the ripe age of eighteen. His power…or rather ability was his magnanimous IQ. The facility had run some tests and boasted it to be within the 260-270 range.

That, compared with Tony’s innate interest in mechanics and engineering allowed him to learn such complicated tasks at a very fast pace. Steve was often amazed by Tony’s capabilities and the amount of ease he brought into their lives with his ability, even with Coulson gone. He thought it was such a contrast to his occasionally childish attitude and his inability to take things seriously outside of his projects.

…How Steve wished Tony could translate the seriousness and urgency he had towards his work outside of his work.

“Okay, Cap, help me with this,” Tony broke Steve out of his reverie, causing the latter to frown.

“Don’t like that nickname you gave me,” He mumbled, before continuing in an audible voice, “What do you want me to do?”

Tony hesitated, trying to formulate the safest way to move the car.

“…So, once I disconnect the cable on the transmission and push the lever attached to it, I’ll come back out. Nat will stay in the driver’s seat and put the car in neutral and then you’ll have to push it. That’s fine with you, right?”

“Yeah, that’s easy enough,” Steve replied. Not only did Steve possess super-strength, marked with the ability to lift a maximum of 800 pounds, his abilities spanned endurance, agility, strength, and speed beyond the peak of human efficiency. Steve’s healing factors were enhanced and he had near-immunity to harsh impact. Hydra often tested for and looked at his extensive list of powers and saw him as a possible combatant for them. The thought of that terrified Steve beyond belief.

With Tony’s careful direction, Steve slightly tilted the car upwards, allowing Tony to push himself under the vehicle. Within moments, he slid out from under the car and easily got back up on his feet, dusting the dirt off the back of his pants. He gave Steve a short smirk, clearly pleased he was able to get the old vehicle to cooperate with him so far.

“You ready?”

Instead of responding, he peered above Tony and noticed the excessive amounts of dirt caked on his hair which must have gathered when he pressed his back against the soil. His cheek was streaked with a smear of black oil that probably came from the car itself.

“What?” Tony raised his eyebrows, wondering why Steve was staring at him so intently.

“It’s all over your hair,” Steve said, reaching over to Tony’s head and shaking the soil off of his hair, “You shoulda brought something to put under yourself.”

“Such a mother hen,” He mumbled, his lips tugging into a coy smile. He reached up to fix his own hair once Steve removed his hand, “Its fine, I’ll live with it.”

Once Natasha had set the gears to neutral and lowered the brake, Steve headed towards the back of the vehicle, ready to push. The red-head firmly clutched onto the steering wheel as she watched Tony run up to the front, keeping a wide distance between himself and the stationary vehicle.

“Isn’t it better for you to be in the passenger seat instead of all the way out there?” Natasha called out to him, “I’m not exactly an expert at driving.”

“Neither am I!” Tony responded, “…Just making sure there’s no damage being done to the car once we start pushing it.”

Natasha rolled her eyes.

“All of you have to do is control the steering wheel if the wheels end up going a certain way,” Bruce interjected, “If the car veers left, you turn the wheel to the right so the car stays straight.”

“Thank you, Bruce,” Natasha said, eyeing Tony. She closed the door. She wasn’t exactly nervous about this– maybe just a little. She’s never exactly been behind the wheel of a vehicle before; she didn’t want to screw up. This was Tony’s new baby; it would devastate him if the car somehow got ruined beyond repair before he even had a chance to work on it.

“You can start now, Steve!” Tony called out, his hands on either side of his mouth.

Steve began to push, the car effortlessly moving under his strength. The movement was a little rocky, the flattened wheels of the Mazda and the rough terrain causing that. Tony slowly walked backwards, keeping a close eye on everything. The others also kept a close watch from the sides of the vehicle; if anything funny happened they would make sure to let Tony know.

“How long do you think this will take?” Clint asked, walking alongside Wanda on one side.

“Two hours non-stop, at least,” Bruce said, he turned back, watching Steve gently push the car, “He’s gotta let you rest.”

“Don’t worry, he will,” Steve said.

It was silent between them, the only noise being the occasional chirping of birds and the gravel coming into contact with the tires of the car. Natasha’s eyes were glued onto the clear path, one that wasn’t engulfed by large rocks or trees.

Beside Clint, Wanda glanced down at her watch, noticing how fast the time had gone. It was 2:21 P.M, already nearing the middle of the afternoon. They would be back home by 4:30 at the earliest.

Her eyebrows pulled together.

The rocks on the ground were vibrating.

She came to a full stop and did an once-over of the surrounding area, her eyes seeming to dart everywhere. It was just them six, at least for several miles.

“What’s wrong, Wanda?”

She snapped her eyes up the moment Clint called her name. Everyone else put whatever they were doing to a stop, earning a confused look from Tony.

“The rocks are moving,” She suddenly said.

The five glanced down at their feet, seeing the pebbles and rocks shake under them. 

“Is...Is that a helicopter?” Clint squinted. He gazed upwards, using his hand to block the invasive sunlight from his eyes.

Natasha placed the vehicle back on park before stepping out to see what the commotion was. She could vaguely see the aircraft, its circulating propellers visible. It was tiny from how high up it was in the sky, but as seconds passed the dark helicopter became larger in view as it began its descent downwards.

It was coming closer to them. 

“What the fuck?” Tony breathed out.

“We need to get out of here,” Steve said, making sure to keep calm, especially after seeing everyone else’s panic-stricken faces. 

That was what Coulson taught them. If something didn’t feel right in the slightest, they had to leave. It didn’t matter what type of situation they were in. There was no room for second thoughts; the only thing they were allowed to trust was their instinct. Any miscalculation on their part could lead to imminent danger or even possible death. It was something the average person wasn’t burdened with. 

Wanda’s face was sheet pale. 

Steve noticed this and whipped his head towards the direction she was looking at. 

A swarm of men in dark green uniforms entered the clearing that the six remained in. The branches and leaves of the trees shook from their harsh and rapid movements. The cowls they wore fully concealed their identity, their mouth being the only visible part of their face. Thin red streaks adorned their uniforms.

The six gathered close together, trying to process what the hell was going on. 

Steve’s breath stopped when he could see the very familiar circular red symbol on the sleeve of their uniforms. 

The symbol was a bright red skeleton with six tentacles emerging out from it. 

His nightmare had come true.

They actually found them. 

Hydra actually found them. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all enjoy this rather late update,,

Steve didn’t think it would come down to this.

Yes, he had those repetitive dreams of him and his family being found out. He didn’t think they would actually come to fruition…not when they’ve managed to stay in hiding for eight whole years. That was nearly a decade ago! How did Hydra manage to find them all of a sudden? How come they never anticipated them coming until seconds before they actually appeared?

None of this made sense to him; none of it made sense to the others.

Steve’s blue eyes darted to a cylindrical weapon one of the men held. He had no idea what they were, but what he knew was that these men were obviously here to take him and his family.

There was no way he was going back to that facility.

He wouldn’t let them take any of his friends. He would rather swallow battery acid then willingly let one of those men get their hands on them. The thought of them having to relive the physical and emotional abuse they’ve experienced at the hands of the lab workers made him sick to his stomach. 

“Oh, shit,” Clint’s voice was quiet, seeing that they were surrounded at all corners.

Hydra knew they were coming to this particular area. They _knew_ and they prepared for it, down to this exact moment. They specifically made sure they wouldn’t be heard, not by anyone, not even by Steve’s heightened senses, until it was too late.

Wanda instinctively hid herself behind Steve the moment two of the armed men started inching towards them. There were eight of them in total, the latter six taking more defensive positions. Partially behind Wanda, Clint’s hand was furtively hidden in his pocket; he firmly held onto a rock the size of his fist. The blonde glanced at everyone else, making sure they were in their ready stances. He finally looked at Steve to get his “okay”.

Coulson routinely prepared them for a moment like this.

He always told them that if they did things right, they would continue to live a safe, peaceful life in the middle of nowhere, Arizona. He told Steve and the others that there was an ‘almost none’ to zero chance that they would get themselves involved in a situation where they were forced to put their powers to use – where they had to defend themselves from a threat. Yet, he still trained each of them.

‘Almost none’ still meant that it could happen.

And it did.

Steve gave Clint a brief, but attentive nod.

That was when Clint hurled the rock towards one of the Hydra soldiers with the cylindrical contraption, perfectly hitting and dislodging the weapon from his hands. Natasha sped past him, her red hair a blur. Before any of the other men could catch her, she leaped up and placed the same one Clint attacked in a chokehold between her legs before spinning them both around and bringing him down with her signature flying triangle maneuver.

After hearing a disconcerted crack of the neck, Natasha looked to her left, seeing Steve block a punch from another. He turned back and grabbed the fabric of yet another Hydra soldier who managed to creep behind him and threw the man several feet ahead of him. The man yelled out in pain after colliding headfirst into a tree.

Wanda’s heartrate increased, watching the horror unfold before her. Her hands shook; she had to do something. She couldn’t be afraid, not especially at a time like this.

“Clint!” Natasha shouted, grabbing the fallen cylindrical weapon right before another soldier could grab it. She flung it forwards, watching Clint catch it with ease.

Before she could redirect her attention to another one of the soldiers, she felt one of them grab the back of her hair. She easily brought back her elbow, hitting the man straight in the chest before twisting herself out of his hold. She ducked, letting Steve punch the side of his face.

Natasha swooped back up, swiping her forearm to block the punch of another uniformed Hydra soldier. She grimaced, his hit hard enough to cause a rather noticeable amount of pain. She brought her other arm, striking the man straight in the jaw. He lost his balance for a moment, stumbling backwards. She quickly leapt forwards and kicked him down with her bodyweight.

“Tony, do you by any chance know how to turn this thing on?!” Clint frantically asked after trying to decipher what the hell kind of weapon it was. He stopped, noticing the other was trying to comfort a very anxious and agitated Bruce, “…Shit.”

Clint’s attention returned to the cylindrical rifle-like weapon, trying to find the appropriate controls. He could hear Tony’s reassuring words contrasting Bruce’s anxious tone.

“Come on, deep breaths, deep breaths,” Tony said, his form crouched down next to the other. Bruce was on his knees, his hands firmly cradling the sides of his head. His body was trembling, his breathing heavy and frantic.

“...This…this can’t happen…not again,” Bruce’s nostrils were flared, his teeth bared and tears trickling from the corners of his eyes. Tony’s eyes were wide the moment he saw a green tinge form at the base of Bruce’s neck, the disconcerting color extending to the bottom of his jaw. Veins were pulsing at the edge of his temple.

“Hey, hey, Bruce! Look at me!” Tony said, his hands firm on either of his shoulders.

“What’s going on??”

Tony saw Wanda rushing towards them. His eyes briefly darted to the scene ahead of them. Natasha and Steve were beginning to struggle with the Hydra soldiers. Much to their chagrin, there were more than the initial eight they had to deal with. Though, Clint had managed to get the cylindrical weapon, a rifle specially manufactured by HYDRA, working. With his perfect dexterity and enhanced sight, he was able to shoot some of them down, but it wasn’t enough as they kept swarming in like ants. Just how many were they?

How Tony wished he could have brought his fucking weapons.

“He’s going to turn into the Hulk if I can’t calm him down,” Tony replied, his voice a shadow of his usually upbeat one. To Bruce, his power was more of a curse than a blessing. Any time he became too angry or even anxious, he would transform into a giant green beast, termed “The Hulk” by Tony. Coulson had taught him to suppress those emotions and he had successfully done that, that is, until Coulson left. Four years ago was the last time he transformed into the Hulk. That proved to be disastrous.

He couldn’t afford to do it at this moment or at any moment; he was unable to control what the Hulk did. The green creature had its own consciousness, fueled by utmost anger and destruction. If they were unlucky and the Hulk ended up fleeing the area and into town, they would be discovered. That was the worst case scenario. They were incredibly lucky it didn’t happen last time.

He resumed his rubbing motions on Bruce’s upper arms, “Bruce, three things that make you laugh–”

“Let me try something,” Wanda interrupted.

Tony looked up at her, his lips parted. He was a little surprised at her offer, given the nature of her hesitance towards using her powers, let alone on other people.

“Are you sure?” He finally replied.

Wanda nodded, a twinge of apprehension in her voice, “Yes.”

Tony moved aside, giving her space.

“Bruce, I’m going to calm you down,” Wanda stated.

He nodded, his mind trying to fight off that debilitating impulse.

Wanda lifted her hand with a certain calm. She shifted her fingers, her middle and ring fingers lower than her index and pinkie. She made sure her heartrate remained steady as her eyes were deadlocked onto Bruce. Her blue eyes turned crimson for a split second as a quick stream of red energy emitted out of her pulsing fingers. The energy ray drifted into Bruce’s head, instantly causing him to loosen his hold on himself. The green tinge on his skin slowly faded away, his natural olive tone coming back.

“You okay?” Tony called out.

The sounds of painful thuds and shouts tore away Bruce’s attention momentarily. He saw Natasha closely dodge an electrified tonfa, light blue electricity fizzing out of it. She landed a roundhouse kick on the Hydra soldier who carried such a weapon before sinking down to the ground and tripping him over.

“Y-yeah, yeah,” Bruce finally answered him, “That was close–”

“Steve!” Wanda yelled, causing Bruce to put a sudden halt to his words. She saw Steve get slammed in the head with the back of a titanium baton. The blonde fell forwards, the impact sending a shooting pain through his skull. When Steve tried pushing himself back up, he felt the baton collide with his ribs.

Before the masked Hydra soldier could bring the baton back once again, he was sent flying like a limp ragdoll. His disoriented yell echoed throughout the area before his body harshly hit the ground.

Steve coughed up blood before drawing his brows together in confusion. Clearing his blurred sight, he saw Natasha electrocute one of the Hydra soldiers with their own shock tonfa before running towards him. With the help of her extended arm, he was able to pull himself up.

He froze the instant he saw Wanda’s glowing red eyes.

With a slight upward movement of her arms, the movements rhythmic and synchronized, two other Hydra soldiers that were gaining up on Clint flew up into the air. She slightly bent her arms to the left, causing the men to fly back. Her underestimation of her ability caused them to slam into the trees, an unsettling noise following the hard collision. They dropped to the ground like lifeless puppets.

Wanda looked like a shadow of herself. Her head was tilted, her eyes up and chin down, the crimson of her eyes making it seem like a completely different person overtook her. This was a vengeful, angry Wanda, one that wanted to destroy the people who stole any semblance of a normal life from her.

“Wanda!” Steve shouted. His heart pounded against his chest. This wasn’t good.

At her periphery she saw more Hydra soldiers begin rush towards her, weapons in hand. Watching her from behind, a very shocked Tony heard rumbling noises. The trees near them were beginning to detach from the ground. She gradually lifted her arms, her fingers curled and the palms of her hands facing upwards. The trees slowly floated upwards on either side of her. Her arms suddenly moved sideways, causing the trees to fly towards the Hydra soldiers, instantly pushing them several feet away.

Tony and Bruce clutched their ears from the loud clamor. The noises that came from the yells and thuds of the Hydra soldiers did not help one bit.

“We have stop her!” He could hear Clint’s voice. The Hydra soldiers weren’t gaining up on them anymore; everything seemed to be under control, everything but Wanda’s inability to control her telekinetic powers.

Steve pushed himself away from Natasha’s hold before heading towards Wanda. He could see the soles of her feet no longer touching the ground as a crimson cloud of energy surrounded her. Truth be told, Steve had no idea what he was doing but any second wasted wasn’t worth it. He or the others didn’t have to deal with Wanda’s powers spiraling out of control, for as long as he could remember. The facility, however, had many mishaps involving her unpredictable powers. This was uncharted territory for them.

Wanda suddenly dropped to her knees and fell forwards.

Steve instantly picked up his speed, hearing the steps of Natasha and Clint not too far from him. Her body was sprawled on the ground, her long brunette hair spreading out from all sides.

“Hey, hey! Wanda!” He crouched down and brought her back up by her shoulders. Much to Steve’s relief, she was still awake. Her eyes were no longer crimson; her normal blue irises were back however unfocused they were.

Her downturned eyelids suddenly snapped upwards.

“Let go of me!” She suddenly cried, her eyes were frozen open. There was an onset of panic kicking in as she tried squirming herself free of Steve’s hold, “Get off! Get off!”

“Wanda, it’s me–!”

Steve couldn’t finish his sentence. With a forward jerk of her arms, she sent Steve flying back a few feet. The side of his cheek scraped against the rough gravel on impact.

Next thing he heard were steps coming towards him.

His hand violently shook as he brought it up to his cheek, feeling blood pool at that area. The back of his head pounded as he pushed himself up.

“Steve, are you okay?”

He was too shocked to say anything. Instead, he looked straight past Natasha who had asked him that question, his eyes meeting Wanda’s instantly guilty expression. Her arms were shaking and her eyes were glazed with oncoming tears.

Without a second to waste, Steve bypassed the other four before reaching Wanda.

“I’m– I’m so sorry, Steve,” Wanda said, she choked on a sob, “I let it get out of control; I didn’t mean to–”

“It’s okay,” He managed to say, to a much unconvinced Wanda, “You’re okay.”

He brought her into a hug to which she returned. They let go of their short embrace, Steve giving her a quick but reassuring smile. Wanda couldn’t return it. Instead she peered over Steve’s shoulder, taking in the extent of the damage, a good deal of them caused by her powers alone. Some of the Hydra soldiers were knocked out cold, their bodies sprawled out against the ground while others could barely stand.

Steve suddenly placed himself in front of Wanda when he could see a couple Hydra soldiers, ones that were in okay shape, heading towards them. They held long electric probes, static threatening to shock them through their high wattage. They weren’t giving up so easily.

A high pitched, ear-curdling sound suddenly rung out through the forest.

Steve instantly fell over, firmly clutching his ears.

The blaring sound, reminiscent of tetanus, assaulted all of his senses. His eyes were firmly shut, fresh tears trickling out of them. He could see bright spots flickering in the corner of his vision. _What the hell was going on?_ He forced his eyes open, barely able to pry them apart from a squint. 

He pressed his teeth together, his grimace more apparent the moment he saw everyone else.

The other five were in the same compromising positions, their bodies paralyzed and hands firm on their ears. Steve saw Wanda; she lay on her side in fetal position, blood slowly pooling out of her ears from the unbearable frequency of the noise. He could hear the muffled cries of pain from his friends, overshadowed by the high pitched buzzing.

Steve tried moving, but his body wouldn’t budge. It felt like a heavy object was placed over top of him.

He could slightly tilt his head, blinking to clear his sight muddled from the tears. He could see that same helicopter they initially saw before this all went down. It was much closer to the ground, the propellers causing a torrent of air to rush towards them.

Then the worst possible thing happened.

He could see two more Hydra soldiers hoist Wanda by the shoulders. They were taking her.

_They were taking her._

Her body was limp against their firm holds as the noise invaded her ears. She couldn’t fight back. None of them could. The loud noise clearly immobilized them. Those two Hydra soldiers – all of them, actually – on the other hand, were unaffected. They all sported special ear plugs that made them immune to it.

He couldn’t just lay down there and let them take her back to that place.

Yet he couldn’t move.

He saw Wanda and the two Hydra soldiers get further and further away, their figures turning into blurs his oncoming tears blocked out. He tried yelling out Wanda’s name, but all that came out was a barely audible wince. His throat burned, a whirlwind of emotions hitting him.

He had never felt so helpless before in his life.

He was upset, livid at himself for letting this happen.

Steve drew his brows together, noticing a slow-walking figure heading towards him. They sported an outfit distinct from the uniform the Hydra soldiers wore. He managed to blink out the tears, trying to focus his sight. He could see the soles of their shoes upfront and close as they came to a stop.

“Never thought I’d see you curled up on the ground like this, Steve. It’s a bad look on you.”

He tilted his head, getting a better a look at the person. He had pale, almost sickly looking skin, black stringy hair falling past his shoulders. His wore an all-black suit, making his pale complexion stick out more. There was no Hydra logo in sight. He held onto a scepter that housed a glowing blue gem between its two sharp, curved blades. His other hand held onto a small, dark pill shaped device. A red light shone from it as his thumb was firmly pressing a button on it. That must have been source of the noise.

“Who the hell are you?”

Steve’s voice was hoarse and barely audible.

“You don’t recognize me?” The person said, a feigned look of offense forming on his features.

The person stepped back and…transformed his physical appearance. Steve’s eyes were unblinking when he saw his own self looking back at him, albeit with a staff and device on hand. The person quickly reverted back to his original form.

“…Loki?”

The memories came flushing in. Like them, Loki was another child with powers, experimented on and abused by the same exact Hydra facility. Steve and his friends would come across him in his own cell or see him passing through, restrained by lab workers when they needed him for experiments or physical tests on his shapeshifting ability. They weren’t exactly friends, though they never had any visible ill will towards each other. Of what Steve knew, Loki detested Hydra, for the horrific things they did to him. …So why was he working with them? Why was he helping them kidnap Wanda?

“Took you long enough,” Loki said, he glanced to his back, seeing the helicopter had finally landed on the ground. Wanda was properly restrained in the back seat. She suddenly squirmed when she saw one of the Hydra soldiers place a damp towel over her mouth. Within seconds, her head fell forwards, her entire body becoming limp.

Steve’s anger soared the moment he watched Wanda pass out from the fumes of the Chloroform rag. They were taunting him…they were taunting him and his friends on purpose. They made sure he would watch, watch Wanda get harmed by those men as he was too paralyzed to do anything in the first place.

“I’m going to let you guys off the hook this time,” Loki continued, “Try to follow us and I’ll kill you.”

Before Steve could say anything, he saw Loki bring back his foot, a metal boot encasing it. The impact caused Steve’s head to roughly jerk to the side before he blacked out.

**\------**

“Tony, Bruce, he’s waking up!”

At the sound of Clint’s frantic voice, Steve jerked upwards, gritting his teeth and almost falling back when he felt a sharp pain enter his abdomen.

“Take it easy, Steve,” Natasha said, her hand hovering over him, the other behind his upper back.

Steve’s frantic eyes searched the area around him. All of the soldiers were gone; the clearing was empty. Just like that, they came and left. He saw the fallen trees and the near decimated area that resulted from their fight with the Hydra soldiers before they took– _before they took Wanda._

“Where is she– where did they go?” Steve said, his senses coming back to full force. He could feel his heart jackhammer against his chest, the intense pounding adding to his sudden bout of adrenaline. Clint and Natasha, who were currently hovering over him, could only give him devastated stares.

Their silence spoke volumes.

“Nat...” Steve said, his voice weak yet desperate.

“Before we could get back up, that helicopter was long gone,” She replied.

Steve slowly sat up, his clenched fists gripping onto the dry soil of the ground. Wanda was taken away, just like that. She was under Hydra’s possession. The scariest part was that Steve had an idea of what they had in store for her. He knew of the things they could possibly do to her. And the fact that he let it happen so easily, enraged him. He screwed up, big time.

He wanted to air out his grievances, his anger, but it was unfair to the others. They all tried their hardest to fight off those men. He blamed himself the most.

“How long was I out?”

“Five minutes, we almost thought he– _Loki_ , would kill you on the spot,” Natasha said, disgust tattered in her voice when she said his name.

“We’re never going to live this down,” Clint added, expressing the same thoughts that Steve had kept for this whole time, “I didn’t think he of all people would side with them.”

Tony and Bruce hurriedly made their way towards them. Steve peered over Natasha’s shoulder, noticing that Tony’s vehicle was left to the side, untouched.

“How are you feeling, Steve?” Bruce was the first speak. Beside him, Tony was uncharacteristically silent, a level of concern clouding his features.

“Like shit,” He replied, surprising everyone else by his not-so-colorful language. Although they knew he often did it when he was beyond stressed out. After all, he wasn’t really going be like himself after witnessing his longtime friend get kidnapped by sadistic people who wanted to experiment on her like a lab rat.

“You don’t want to put too much strain on yourself for the next few hours or so. Loki probably gave you a concussion with that kick,” He said, taking Steve’s quick healing into account. It would normally take weeks for any ordinary person to heal if they were injured to the extent that Steve was.

“We don’t have that kind of time,” Steve retorted, impatience lacing his voice. They had to devise a quick plan, one that involved them trying to rescue her as soon as possible.

“We haven’t fixed the car yet. We can’t go anywhere, unless we want to walk for hours to the nearest store and carjack someone else’s vehicle,” Tony spoke up.

“If that doesn’t go well, then it’s unwanted attention for us, which is what we don’t need right now, or at all,” Bruce added.

“Fine, but I’ll have to push the car home if we plan on Tony getting it fixed soon,” Steve said. When Bruce was about to interject to possibly push aside his suggestion as he didn’t want Steve to put stress on himself, he continued, “–And don’t say no. It’s going to take a lot longer for any of you guys to push it uphill.”

“Okay, but you need to get some rest while we bring the car back to life. We can devise the plan once we’re home.”

Natasha and Clint helped Steve back up to his feet. His entire body was aching. All of those injuries he amassed really did a number on him. At the end of the day, that mattered the least to him. What mattered was formulating a well-thought out but doable plan that involved finding out where they took Wanda, and then getting her back in one piece. He had to get her back.

He had no idea what he would do with himself if they couldn’t.


End file.
